Per Josh Henschke, the Feds are NOT involved in the Weiss investigation. DPS reports offer some clues.

Submitted by FrankMurphy on January 18th, 2023 at 12:04 AM

This would seem to rule out certain crimes that can only be prosecuted under federal law.

Can confirm the Matt Weiss situation is NOT federal, which rules out some of the nefarious (and unfair) speculation out there.

I don’t know much more other than what it’s not.

— Josh Henschke (@JoshHenschke) January 18, 2023

There's also a UofM DPS report (DPS reports are public record) about an employee reporting that someone at Schembechler Hall gained unauthorized access to a UMich email account.

Public records show ‘fraudulent activity’ regarding emails reported at Schembechler Hall.

STORY: https://t.co/HxZq4Bsf8v https://t.co/UGTG79WmSf

— Josh Henschke (@JoshHenschke) January 18, 2023

MMBbones

January 18th, 2023 at 1:00 AM ^

Well, even if your speculations have nothing to do with reality, they form an interesting narrative. Develop it further and it could make for a decent novella. 

But would that be enough for a raid on his house?  Maybe? I really don't know.

 

Edit: Apparently I misunderstood and my use of the term "raid" was inappropriate. Apologies. See comments from others below.

907_UM Nanook

January 18th, 2023 at 1:06 AM ^

I don't like conspiracy theories or drama in the first place. I mean who's to say Warde didn't play informant to DPS about Weiss' access violations as payback for the public humiliation from Santa/Jim contract negotiations? Where does reality begin & end with UM football? And why the unending media cycle recently as crystal-balls drop for Jadyn Davis - after OSU loses their top QB recruit in '24? It's like a made for TV movie meanwhile the all-time winningest football program is at the peak of winning over a 2-year period. Just make it stop already!

Oregon Wolverine

January 18th, 2023 at 1:06 AM ^

Criminal defense lawyer here.  
 

Feds pick up cases from local prosecutors/local law enforcement on their own timeline at their own discretion.  Some of the ugliest cases I’ve defended (don’t ask how bad, very bad) stayed in state court because the state sentencing exposure exceeded the feds, or because the case had a problem of proof.  
 

Still, because this is UM police, that would be unexpected.  
 

Hacking does not necessarily require top computer science skills, more often spotting and exploiting a vulnerability — computer left on and accessing before locked is common.  

chuck bass

January 18th, 2023 at 1:23 AM ^

If it was a computer left logged in or an iPad, how are campus police looped in and what justifies a house call? I’m just trying to imagine being in California and my email pings an Ann Arbor IP address which also has my email open (U-M Gmail let’s you know the email is open in more than one location). Okay, am I really going to call campus PD for that or would I just assume that’s a fluke or click log off other accounts? Truthfully, I probably don’t even notice or care. Makes me think it’s more than just peeking at emails on an already logged on computer or iPad. Or maybe a massive overreaction.

Angry-Dad

January 18th, 2023 at 7:15 AM ^

I do exclusive Fed criminal defense and this is right.  I have seen the feds pick up state cases years after the fact.  Not uncommon at all.  However, unless this was some significant breach it would be odd for them to get involved.

I did represent a kid several years ago that hacked into Northwestern system and messed with grades just for fun.  So the feds will get involved when necessary. 

HarBoSchem

January 18th, 2023 at 8:59 AM ^

Reiterating what OW said. Many times the State agencies will start the investigation (and complete it all the way through) and only call in the feds if it's beyond their capability. Once the State Prosecutor or DA has the Probable Cause Affidavit, they sometimes call the AUSA and correspond with them and either keep it at State level or pass it on to the AUSA.  I have had several 10+ year old cases from the State level that ended up going to federal level because of enhancements or the individual found themselves in trouble again. So, just because the feds aren't involved right now, doesn't mean they won't be. 

As for the unmarked police vehicles at his home, I wonder if UM Police filed for a search warrant or if they showed up to conduct an interview with him there. Both make sense. Not every interview has to be done at the "station". In fact, interviewing someone at their residence makes some individuals more comfortable. But to be able to get a search warrant for the residence you need to show that there is reasonable cause to believe there is material to the crime at the home. And then you have to get a judge or magistrate to sign off on it.    

chuck bass

January 18th, 2023 at 1:40 AM ^

The login can last up to 30 days. Are campus cops really coming after you if you go to mail.google.com on a shared iPad and discover a U-M colleague is logged on? That seems far-fetched. The police involved seems to suggest he somehow logged himself into someone else’s account, not peeked around an already logged in account. Maybe even with auto-saved name and password?

I'mTheStig

January 18th, 2023 at 10:16 AM ^

Which, is a plausible scenario but doesn't accomplish what Weiss intended -- if true.

Deleting the email from the client side doesn't erase the email from the server side.  Especially at an organization where there needs to be an audit trail since emails are public records.

LabattsBleu

January 18th, 2023 at 1:14 AM ^

Feds not being involved is obviously good news.

Don't want to speculate beyond that...

Hoping that whatever it is, it will be cleared up quickly rather than having it hang over the program.

93Grad

January 18th, 2023 at 5:47 AM ^

If that’s true then why send a bunch of unmarked cop cars to his house?   That seems like an overreaction to simply hacking into someone else’s email account. 

ESNY

January 18th, 2023 at 7:24 AM ^

It’s not like a SWAT team with battering rams showed up. They could simply have gone to his house to take a forensic image of his computer. 

Per the DPS report this could go any number of ways. Weiss could’ve sat at someone’s desk who left their computer unlocked and sent unauthorized emails or used that to obtain login and password details which he used via his home computer to login to various systems under someone else’s credentials. Maybe someone did that to Weiss computer and they are imaging his computers to see when and what he logged into and the time stamps. 

dragonchild

January 18th, 2023 at 8:00 AM ^

I wouldn't read too much into the "unmarked cars" thing.

  • First, marked or unmarked, they're still cars.  This was neither a first responder nor a routine patrol situation, which need the marked ones, so unmarked ones were likely to be more available.
  • Second, people get weird around marked cars, suddenly obeying the speed limit and all that.  An unmarked car more likely goes unnoticed.  This being an incident requiring law enforcement but not an actual emergency, it's far less of a PITA to get there when you're going with the traffic instead of stuck behind some sweaty-knuckled student going 20mph for mile after mile because your car is marked.
  • I don't know how these things work, but unmarked cars might've been the ones the involved personnel (detectives?) could take with minimal paperwork.
  • Maybe the marked cars were going through some maintenance rotation?  I dunno, I'm spitballing here.  But if the unmarked ones get you to the scene, who cares?

It's all speculation, I admit, but this isn't like busting some drug warlord making a break for the border.  If they decided he wasn't a fight-or-flight threat, they'll finish lunch and take the first cars they have easy access to.

4th phase

January 18th, 2023 at 8:58 AM ^

Yeah I think the unmarked car thing has spun a little out of control. What you say is most likely correct, it wasn't an emergency so they didn't need to fly there with their lights on. Detectives/IT department took their normal cars, any time a cop shows up not in a squad car a layman would say "unmarked cop car"

Angry-Dad

January 18th, 2023 at 6:40 AM ^

Maybe hacked Jim’s email and sent messages to the panthers and broncos about how much he wants to be back in the NFL and bring his smart, handsome, and powerful OC Matt with him.  

Amazinblu

January 18th, 2023 at 7:05 AM ^

Is there any truth to the rumor that the NCAA violations are much more widespread that has been noted?

I’ve heard that… in addition to the Brown Jug hamburgers - infractions include…

1. a box of coffee from Roos Roast,

2. an Avocado Toast breakfast at Avalon,

3. a late night Omelette from Tasty Diner,

4. a cheeseburger from Blimpie’s,

5. a pizza from.. both - Pizza House and Domino’s, and

6. a peanut butter and banana shake from Pizza Bob’s.

Amazinblu

January 18th, 2023 at 8:49 AM ^

St Joe - please don’t go there.  I fear that bottom drawer of coupons leads to the NCAA Death Penalty.  After all, Texas only spent over $280K for Arch Manning’s recruiting weekend.  If word gets out about a “free” pizza from Domino’s - the end of Michigan Athletics could be very near…

Booted Blue in PA

January 18th, 2023 at 7:07 AM ^

Obviously,  JH left his email open on his work computer when he left the office.  Matt went into JH's office & sent emails to Denver, Carolina & Indy expressing interest in their head coaching positions...... hoping Jim gets hired back into the NFL, taking Matt with him.

 

And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling Santa!

The Blue Collar

January 18th, 2023 at 8:42 AM ^

If I had to speculate, which we of course shouldn't do, I'd guess there's some damaging emails Weiss sent to a co-ed (because it's usually co-eds) that he wanted erased from her end, so he tried to do that.

There was a similar situation at the college I worked for.